Intuit is expected to announce this week, QuickBooks Connect, a first-time major conference that will draw accountants and small business owners. The event is scheduled to begin on October 21 through 23 in San Jose, Calif., and the company is reportedly talking about attendance of between 4,000 and 7,000, expected to include developers and entrerepeneurs getting ready to start businesses.

There will also be a pre-show QuickBooks ProAdvisor certification preparation and product training. That will be conducted by Joe Woodard of Scaling New Heights on October 20 and 21. The price for registration for the conference is $169 before July 31. For those who also want to attend Woodard's session the total early-bird offer is $368. After July 31, those prices rise to $199 and $398.

Intuit will also trot out its Innovation Gallery, a display of products on the market and those being test, which has been available at a variety of events over the past few years.

It is believed that the show is in part response to the emergence of Xero as a player in the United States. Last year, after Xero had announced the dates for its first Xerocon conference in San Francisco, Intuit invited industry to influencers to a event scheduled on the same days. This year, rather than hold a fall event, Xero has postponed is U.S. conference to next year.